Michael Mahler's Ditherings

It has been a fairly quiet weekend, but I got a lot done. I had the films that I was supposed to review for the GLBT block at the Great Lakes Film Fest in late September. The reviews were due by Monday, and working with the newsletter I tend to be cognizant of deadlines. I was feeling guilty for not jumping on it, but late Saturday I just dove into it.

There were paper forms to record results, but being a computer geek, I scanned it in and made a PDF form to fill out (which also totaled up the scores for the various criteria.) I celebrated completing the task by going out to the Zone after dropping off the films at Theatre 145. There were a couple of fairly good films, and only a few that I didn't care for so much.

I had been having a problem for almost 2 weeks with cron jobs not executing for the Erie Gay News site. It was rather frustrating, and I was fairly sure that it wasn't anything that I was doing wrong. Among other things, this meant that the email list stuff wasn't regularly checking. However, the web host finally escalated the ticket and it is now resolved. Yay! A side benefit was that I added some code to track when the jobs run and fixed some things that had been not quite right before.

Just in the past couple days, we have gotten an influx of requests for free sample issues of Erie Gay News. There is a form on the web site. They were coming from all over, which I found puzzling. It turns out that we were listed on a site for free offers, so that explains that.

Tonight was the last of the free classes for belly dance for guys. We start up again the 2nd Monday in September. I hope to keep in practice.

After the class, I had to stop off to pick up the GLBT entries for the Great Lakes Film Fest, which is happening the end of September. I need to review them and send back critiques within the next week or so. Hoping to make time for that.

Um, no. Just a bad idea from the get go. Rocky Horror Picture Show is a cult classic, and should NOT be messed with. I can probably sing most of the score and many of the lines (plus some of the audience participation stuff) from memory. I am NOT shivering with antici-(SAY IT!)-pation. If I was wearing pearls, I would clutch them.

MTV Remaking The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Source: Variety

July 23, 2008

MTV is developing a remake of 1975 cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show, reports Variety.
Lou Adler, executive producer of the original film, is partnering with BermanBraun and Fox Television Studios on the new rendition.
The new version will use the original screenplay by Jim Sharman and Richard O'Brien but may also include music not featured in the original.
The director and casting decisions have yet to be announced. The original starred Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick and Meatloaf.

MTV Remaking The Rocky Horror Picture Show - ComingSoon.net

We had the first night of belly dance class for guys at North Coast Ballet. There were just 4 of us (and I was the only gay one), but it went well. All of us happened to be Pagan, and it ended up being very relaxed and supportive socially.

At one point, the instructor had us stretching our arms out with our palms out and parallel to the wall. She made a reference to the scene in Star Wars where they are in the trash compactor thing and everyone visibly brightened at the geek reference.

There were 2 other guys who weren't able to make it this time, but who will be there next time. Next Monday is being skipped for class because almost everyone will be at Brushwood for Sirius Rising.

The teacher said that we might be sore and she suggested taking ibuprofen when we got home. I am feeling fine now, so either it did the trick, or I didn't work hard enough.

It felt really good to try something new in an environment that was so friendly and supportive. Even though I tend to think of myself as a klutz and dumpy, I felt like I wasn't being evaluated and found deficit. How people treat each other makes a HUGE difference.

Now I just need to figure out how to practice and not reinforce mistakes. Oh yeah, and get appropriate practice wear. I just showed up from work since the timing was so tight.

I am not certain how well the story will adapt to an opera, but if there is anything more gay than an opera based on Brokeback Mountain, I can't think of what it would be.

I am picturing an aria "Desidero che potrei rinunciarlo" (Okay, so I just looked up the Italian for "I wish I could quit you" on BabelFish. So sue me!)

And there was already a musical parody done a while back entitled "Oklahomo!", so that joke has already been done.

Brokeback Mountain The Opera

From wenn.com | See recent WENN news
9 June 2008 9:02 AM, PDT
An opera based on Oscar-winning movie Brokeback Mountain is heading for the New York City stage.
Charles Wuorinen has been given the job of adapting Annie Proulx novel for the stage, in a show slated to premiere in 2013.
Ang Lee's movie adaptation scooped three Academy Awards in 2006, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger as two gay ranch hands.

Brokeback Mountain The Opera

I had a very good time at Shimmy for a Cure. Quite a number of bellydancers put on a benefit performance for the John Kanzius Cancer Research Foundation. They were mostly local/regional performers, but there was a troupe from Toronto (which included a male dancer) and a performer from California who was fantastic.

I knew a fair number of the local performers. Unsurprisingly, many of them were Pagan. Just as there aren't a whole lot of straight male church organists, the odds tend to favor that if a woman is a belly dancer, she is probably not a fundamentalist Christian. (Not to say that is a guarantee in either case, of course.) I remarked to a few friends that it was interesting attending a bellydance event where people from my faith tradition weren't the majority. However, it was all cool.

Kamille, the California, did a finale where she placed a belt on her waist with rods extending that were then set on fire at the end: very dramatic! My first thought was that it would be a really bad time to get an itchy knee. ;) She also held conjoined rods in her hands that looked like big fingers that had flames after she got out of the belt.

All in all, I think everyone had a great time, and money was raised for terrific cause, so I consider it an evening very well spent.

I got some stuff done last night, and decided to catch The Boys Next Door at Directors Circle Theatre last night. It's basically about 4 mentally challenged guys living in an apartment and the guy who takes care of them. It was lighter in tone in the first act, but there were still quite a few laughs in the second act. There were also some fairly moving moments.  Very much recommended!

I also had a pleasant time chatting with a friend and his mom who were also seeing the play. All in all, a very nice evening!

I just had a very nice chat with my brother-in-law about a mutual friend who is in the Society for Creative Anachronism. Otfrid got a Writ that he would be receiving a Pelican (Peerage award for service) at Ice Dragon (a very large event in Buffalo NY, also called Barony of the Rhydderich Hael.) This event will be 2 weeks after his 12th birthday, and is being given for 24 years of service.

How is that possible, you ask? Otfrid is a leap year baby, so he is actually going to be 48 years old. My brother and I joked about the character of Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance, who was also born on February 29, which was a plot point. I mentioned about something that Isaac Azimov had written that the play would have been set in 1873 or 1877. Frederic sings about how he will celebrate his 21st birthday in 1940, which means that he would have been born 88 years before (if Gilbert and Sullivan correctly realized that 1900 would NOT be a leap year) or 84 years before (if they didn't.)

Well, the Roadhouse Theatre is not quite dead. ;) I went tonight to see Wake Up and Smell the Coffee, a set of monologues by Eric Bogosian. It was very good and the performers were all excellent. There were a lot of really intense themes, and definitely not for kids. There were several people in the cast that I have either performed with in the past or know.

I guess that the Roadhouse is going to try to see if they can resurrect themselves in the next 4 months. I hope that they can!

I just got an email from the good folks who are helping to put on Films for Food and they are looking for volunteers to help out on Friday/Saturday. Please give them a call if you can!

From Kelly:

Hello.
Do you know anyone who would like to help out this weekend at the Films for Food benefit?

We will be there Friday 7pm and the last film goes off at 8pm Saturday night.

Have them call me at 873-0762 or Steve at 873-5069.

I wanted to pass along a blatant plug for a very worthy charitable event this weekend at the Roadhouse Theatre, 145 W 11th St.

Films For Food will be presented at the Roadhouse Theatre at 145 West 11th Street. This is all local filmmakers getting together for a great cause. It starts at 7:30 PM Friday night (November 9) and runs 24 hours non-stop thru Saturday at 8PM. A wine and cheese reception will follow at 9:30 PM Saturday with the filmmakers,casts and crews and is open to the public as well.

There will be a silent art auction at the event as well.

This is a benefit for the Second Harvest Food Bank so admission to the films is a non-perishable food item or cash donation (all for 2nd Harvest) for each film you plan on hanging out to watch, please.

Check out the film schedule here.

Also, there was an article in this morning's Erie Times News that the Roadhouse Theatre will be closing this month. Their last event will be the showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show on November 15. I am feeling kind of bummed because I had already promised to talk about blogging for another group that night, so I won't be able to go.

Niftiness! I just found out that one of the films that will be at this weekend's Digital Film Festival in Venango county will be The Preacher and the Poet, is on the agenda The short film contrasts an African American minister's outrageous (and infamous) anti-gay comments from the pulpit with the emotionally compelling poem of a spoken word artist rapping about his best friend who committed suicide because of such anti-gay oppression.

The film was produced by Joe Wilson and his partner, Dean Hamer, who were the same guys who did We Belong: The Movie that was at the Great Lakes Film Festival. They were also filming footage at the PA HB 1400 hearing the week after the festival.

Speaking of the hearings, someone wrote a letter to the editor in a recent Erie Times Newsabout not being allowed to ask questions at the hearing. I think that the person s well meaning, but probably unaware that the format of a hearing is that people are set up to give testimony, and that it is not atown hall meeting/open debate thing. The lattersort of event is also very useful and appropriate, and this wasn't it.

This mostly came up because of Diane "Whack Job" Gramley giving what some in the audience thought were factually/logically flawed arguments. I agree, but I think that Rep. Babette Josephs was quite right to insist on changing the format in midstream. As much as I think Gramley is offbase, I still firmly believe that we should all be subject to the same rules. And Gramley left to her own devices probably helps us out. She threw a hisy fit a few years ago when the Barrow Theatre had a one night production of the musical "La Cage Aux Folles."

I did get a call asking to verify that I had sent my reply letter, so I am guessing that the Times News will run it.

OMG! This is a video shot in Provincetown that includes Bruce Vilanch, Jeff Stryker and Rue McLanahan acting out lines from Gone With The Wind. If there could ever be anything more gay than this, I can't even begin to imagine what it would be.

Via Eden, who also got a perfect score.

So, Tuesday night I was at the United NeoPagan Council of Lake Erie board meeting at Rich's. We are working on the meadmaking workshop for June 16-17, and starting to work more on 3rd Annual Erie Pagan Pride Day (PPD.) The national PPD folks are pushing for lots of educational classes for PPD observances, rather than a festival. Raven pointed out that the name Pagan Pride Day was sort of stolen from Gay Pride. I asked when I would be getting royalties. No word on that.

We also joked about the very hunky and straight (although totally gay-friendly) Rich making money by selling videos of him dancing scantily clad. Somehow, I think I am ending up as Rich's pimp. (Which I am totally cool with! : )

Then TJ was asking Ruth if she had an alien baby. This was for an event that Rich was getting props/decorations for. Ruth does a lot of improv and theater, as well as Shadowfest, and she ended up running through the various odd objects she has. The capper was "and I have a bag of baby heads in my basement!" (Presumably, toy ones, and not severed formerly-living infant heads.) So, I whipped out the PDA to write that down for this blog entry.

I saw Glengarry Glen Ross at the Roadhouse tonight. It was very good. The characters were intriguing; although most of them I wouldn't like if I knew them in person.

I was chatting afterward with a few members of the cast and a rather amiable gay-friendly straight guy and his wife. I actually thought that the straight guy was gay years ago and flirting with me, and we ended up at his place one night. (This was maybe 15 years ago.) While we were there, he said something like, "you know I'm straight, right?" Anywho, that is ancient history.

The straight guy was really a fan of the movie (which I haven't seen) and very much enjoyed the play. While chatting with the cast, he said, "Wow, that was so good. I feel like I should blow you all." I sort of bit my tongue and just said something like "Gracious!" when I really wanted to quip, "Now, please leave that sort of thing to us professionals."

So, after the nap yesterday afternoon, I got bundled up and rode with my friend Jeff down to Allegheny College to see the student product of The Pirates of Penzance de Veracruz. It was the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, but it was set in Mexico during the Revolution in 1910. They did some minor lyrical and other changes. The 2nd verse of the Major General's song (pronounced by all of the characters as if it was spelled "Major Heneral") had some fairly clever variations. It was great fun! When I was in college, I listened to the 1980 Broadway production cast album pretty much incessantly, so I can sing most of the score from memory.

The actor who played Frederic had a very good voice, but he had rather an effeminate voice. (Translation: when he opened his mouth, rolls of chiffon pretty much flew out.) The Major General had sort of a fey voice as well. The curtain call music was "La Bamba:, which I am pretty sure is a first for that production. They all seemed like they were having fun, and it was very much enjoyable.

The math nerd living in my head did obsess a tad over the year that they used. Major plot points are that Frederic was born in leap year on February 29, that he is observing his 21st birthday in the first act, that he has had 5 birthdays (February 29) and that he will be back to get Mabel when he has his 21st birthday.

So, therefore, the year that the play is set has to be the year after a leap year 1910 wasn't such a year. The closest year to that would have been 1913 (because 1912 was a leap year.) However, years that end in 00 are leap years only if they are evenly divisible by 400. So, 2000 was a leap year, but 1900 wasn't. Therefore, he would have only had 4 birthdays by his 21st year. (In the latter part of the play, they changed the line from "In 1940, I of age shall be" to "In 1974, I of age shall be" - no, you won't! Because 1974 was not a leap year.) By the way, I guess that means that the original version's first act would have occurred on March 1, 1873 (if they authors remembered that 1900 was going to be a leap year, or March 1, 1877 if they didn't.) Okay, WAY too much thought went into that. I am SUCH a dork!

Afterwards, Pat and Chuck, who live in Meadville, very graciously invited Don and Martin (from Jamestown) and Jeff and myself back for a sort of impromptu mini-Menspace. It was very nice, and we talked about all sorts of stuff. I looked at a problem on Pat and Chuck's PC with their DVD drive, and concluded it was probably a hardware issue.

Getting ready now to do the Sunday chores and also to head out to the monthly EGN staff brunch with Mike and Deb. They're right: there IS no rest for the wicked!

I get email from all over, and I got the following from the Baileywick Repertory Theatre in Chicago about Barenaked Lads Save Christmas!

Please note the composer's name: Michael S. Mahler (my middle initial is K.) However, a revue encompassing naked men and show tunes, not to mention twisted humor? It's like looking in a mirror! Okay, probably a mirror at a bathhouse, but a mirror nonetheless.)

NAKED CHRISTMAS?

Our newest holiday entertainment, the musical review BARENAKED LADS SAVE CHRISTMAS has gotten great reviews as well. Don't miss what Mary Shen Barnidge in Windy City Times says "the six athletic performers glow with enough congenial warmth to provide us with a welcome 75 minutes of escapist enjoyment."
Writer Andy Eninger and composer Michael S. Mahler have created some truly unique takes on life during the holidays with Eninger and Mahler looking for the naked truth in the holidays and ripping the stockings off of all that we hold dear. Santa Claus gets caught with his pants down; 'Project Runway' gets runover by a reindeer; naked elves get more than they bargained for; and twisted Christmas carols abound. It's one holiday show that's definitely not for the children, as the BARENAKED LADS take on family values, crabby scrooges, and all those tacky people who dare to re-gift.
For those who love the moon? Well those BARENAKED LADS celebrate the holiday in style with a special 9 p.m. performance. Please be a guest for another Naked New Year!

OMG! Yet another hysterical thread at the Datalounge. I love me some Datalounge.

We have no houses We have no jobs We have the AIDS But we can still sing.

by: RENT

They all deserve to die Oops I killed my wife Now I'm killed by a half-wit How Ironic

by: Sweeney Todd

We are cats.
That is all.
Oh yes, one of us dies.
Yawn.

by: Cats

It's all fun & games until someone gets shivved during a rumble.

by: West Side Story

I'm a whore who marries well and runs my country into the ground before I die early.

by: Evita

There are more here.

Last night I went to see Blood Relations at Directors Circle Theatre. It was quite good. I knew a few folks in the cast. Karen, who played the actress partner of Lizzie in the later period of play and then Lizzie in the flash back, was in Sr. Mary Ignatius with me a few years ago. Caroline, the other lead actor, has done a few other things that I have seen, and is also a very nice person to chat with.

As it turned out, I ended up sitting with 3 folks from the Erie Sisters, who were there as part of the Lake Erie Gala Weekend. We all enjoyed the show, and we chatted a fair amount.

After the show, one of the girls was lamenting that the high heels she had were quite uncomfortable. The wife of the organizer suggested that they could be shortened, and that there was a hachet available back stage. shot back with that giving a new twist to "accessory to the crime." (After the fact, I reflected if it couldn't technically be termed a "crime to the accessory." Hmm, maybe if it was a purse, rather than shoes.)

I accepted their invitation and went up to the hotel where they were all staying and we hung out in the lounge. There was quite a mix of fashion styles. Some of the other ladies had gone to see musical dinner theatre at the Station, which seemed to have not been quite as big a hit as the play was with us.

Apparently WICU TV 12 News had been to the other performance, and they had interviewed some of the attendees. "Cindy" became (to the best of my knowledge) the first local person to speak on camera as a crossdresser. Her wife also spoke. (A few of the ladies were truck drivers in their other persona.)

Anywho, everyone was very nice and gracious. I happened to also see Shannon, who used to work at Moonsense when The Guys were meeting up there. She was very friendly and pleasant. I didn't recognize her at first as she had changed her hair color.

All in all, a very nice evening.

I had a semi-quiet day yesterday, but I did get to spend a very nice evening with the rest of the coven. We had a full moon ritual, which went well. I thought about going out afterward, but I was feeling like I wanted to be a lazy slug. Maybe I will go out next week, which looks to be relatively clear!

I tried to go see Rocky Horror at the Roadhouse on Friday, but they apparently canceled. I am wondering if the snow didn't make people wimp out. It actually wasn't that extreme, but being the first snow of the season probably disheartened people.

OMG! I hadn't seen this before. Nathan Lane doing Brokeback, The Musical.

Yes, I have been hitting YouTube WAY too much. Deal with it.

I went with my friend Paul last night to see the Directors Circle Theatre production of "Hush Up, Sweet Charlotte", which is a take off on the Better Davis movie "Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte". This is basically the community theatre premiere, as I beleive it has only played in San Francisco.

Anywho, it was a luagh riot. 2 guys in drag, Buddy Pacey and Jeff Rodland, did the Bette Davis and Olivia De Haviland roles, and they were both quite good. Buddy really nailed the Bette Davis thing. When I later looked at the IMDB entry, I found a link to a message board, and someone mentioned that they were going to the play here in Erie! They had a glowing review after seeing it, so I forwarded the comment on to Michael Weiss, the director and one of the actors. I always figure that it's good to pass along when someone is saying nice stuff behond someone's back.

Hmm, for not being much of a theatre person, I seem to get the actor's nightmare a fair amount.

So I dreamed last night that I was in some kind of light musical that featured music of the late 50's/early 60's (which could be an echo of when I was actually in a production of 'Leader of the Pack") This time, the entire cast felt unrehearsed and unprepared. A lot of family and friends were in the audience. At one point, I had to change out of clothes, and had changed into a white bathrobe, and got stuck on stage and couldn't get back stage to change into costume, so I was just toughing it out. I wasn't wearing anything beneath the bathrobe, and I was worried about exposing myself. We were pretty bad, and it was really sad because the audience was composed of folks who were friendly, but they kept drifting away anyway. (I think it was to spare us embarrassment.) I think I saw my Mom in the audience.

Finally, there was some kind of climactic number. There were a few of us on stage who were supposed to start of a big number, and I think that we were kind of all hoping that someone else performing would remember the words and we would just follow along. One girl sang a few, weak tentative words and fell silent. We all sort of stared at each other. I tried to stammer out some kind of explanation or apology to the audience, who seemed to be basically wincing in sympathetic pain. I think I saw my Mom's face as she looked in from the door at the back of the auditorium.

My normal entrance route into doing theatre holds: my friends Gary and Heather are having a dramatic reading of Paul Rudnick's The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told at Trance next Thursday and the following Sunday. One part had been cast 4 times, but the person had to drop out. So, I am reading the part of a disabled rabbi. It's funny as I am very frequently mistaken for being Jewish.

Did I mention that she's a lesbian? Since we are reading, I won't have to do drag, which is good as I hate shaving.

I had a pretty good time last night. I went with my friend Paul to see the Mystery of Irma Vep at the Roadhouse Theatre. The 2 actors, Jeff and Brian, were both very good. (And the costume changes that they had to go through probably constitute an aerobic workout!) There was reference in a review that the name in the title ("Irma Vep") was an anagram. I was only able to guess "Ma! Viper!" and "I'm a perv." (Okay so the last one probably wasn't so surprising coming from me. It wasn't either of those.

I was out briefly at Trance afterwards and chatted with some folks. Looking forward to dancing with Paul tonight!

Odd the things one finds with Google. Many of you have probably heard of the Sondheim musical "Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street", a very dark thing about a barber in London who murdered some of his customers, and his lover, Mrs. Lovett, who baked them into meat pies to be served to her customers. Pretty far out and gruesome, right? Supposedly fictional? Actually, there does appear to be basis in fact, which you can read here. Some of the details were added to the play, and borrowed from previous works, but the details seem largely the same. Who knew?

On a queer note, for 12th grade English, we had to bring in a song and analyze its lyrics. I brought in "Have a Little Priest" from Sweeney Todd, because Dad had the cast album, and I thought it was interesting. (Have I mentioned before that I had a pretty gay childhood??? The fact it took me until I was 20 or so to realize this just proves how dense I can be.) I have since observed that if your first reaction to any life situation is ANYTHING by Sondheim, just save time and come out right then and there, because you are probably only delaying the inevitable!

Work is changing our web hosting service. I was calling about doing a DNS server transfer and was on hold with Expedient. Like a lot of companies, they have canned music, which happened to be classical. The funny part is that the same piece (don't know the same, sort of a 19th century elegant violin sort of thing) was what was used for the opening scene in Dracula that I was in last fall. I ended up chortling to myself as I thought "Yup, that's about where Jimmy as Renfield tries to eat the rat, and they drag him up to the cell." Definitely it would have been awkward to explain the laughter.

There are a few local productions I had been meaning to catch, so last night I went to Directors Circle to catch Run For Your Wife, which was a British farce. Lots of miscommunication, door slamming sort of thing. I knew a few people in the cast, and it was great fun. I cam home, geeked for a bit, and laid down for what I thought was a brief nap at 10:30, intending to go out later. I was awakened at 2:30, so scratch going out, but the awakening was a good kind. ;)

I woke up late today, but managed to get a few tasks knocked out, so life is good. I had my annual splurge of a steak dinner. Work gives us a gift certificate each year, so since I relatively rarely have red meat, I figured what the heck.

Tonight was a trip to the Roadhouse Theater to catch Bat Boy: The Musical. It's based on a story from the supermarket tabloid, the Weekly World News. Delightfully fun and very well executed. Definitely NOT The Sound of Music. The theatre was pretty much full, and since I was a walk-in, I was in the last populated row. The woman working the box office was in the production of The UnXmas Story that was half of the double bill with The EIght: Reindeer Monologues. A minor compliment came when a friend mentioned in passing that he liked what I had to say about the PBS/Posters from Buster story.

I am pretty much resolved that I will go out tonight: I need to check the newsletter supply, and I should mayhap dance or at least chat. Slightly bummed that my friend and sometime dance partner Paul has a bad case of cold/flu. It's been almost 2 months since we last danced. Sigh!

I went out last night, but the person I was going to meet didn't make it, and I missed the email message because I went directly from the cast party for The Eight to the bar. I did end up dancing and having a relatively good time.

The closing night audience was wonderfully responsive and a joy to perform for, so a great note to go out on.

An amusing exchange when I was in the chat room after getting back. I mentioned in the room about having been in The Eight, and some 23 year old chimed in that he would have liked to have seen it. He then went on to say that he had really hated some of the shows he had seen at Directors Circle.

"Which ones?" I asked.

"Dracula was awful."
"hmm". (That was the previous show I was in, of course, but I didn't say anything.)

"I liked some of Bent."
'Which parts?"
"The leads were very good, but the supporting cast wasn't, for the most part. Some of them didn't really seem like actors." (Another show I had done previously and was one of the supporting case referred to.)

I quickly said that Jason, Scott and Brendan were very good. (Translation to Mr. Clueless person: I have just quickly referred to the first names of the cast of a play that ran 3 years ago, which would probably indicate that I have a connection to the show, and it might behoove you to moderate what you say.)

Actually, I think of myself as a mediocre actor at best, and I was oddly amused by how rude and clueless the guy was being. I privated a friend in the room and told him about it.

See, this is why the "I am SO over everything" attitude (which is usually more about one's own insecurities), tends to trip folks up. I felt a little annoyed after the encounter, but mostly amused.

The Eight: Reindeer Monologues went pretty well tonight. I should mention that my outfit consists of chaps, jeans, a leather harness and a leather vest. (And reindeer antlers) Alas, one of the cast members wasn't there as her mom had just been diagnosed with a serious illness.

So, I saw my mom and stepfather afterward. I think they were a little weirded out as it was sort of an offbeat play. I had changed out of my costume. We were chatting and walking out of the theatre when Mom said, "So, where did you get the waders?". "Um, those are actually called 'chaps', Mom", I replied. "Oh, I thought they were waders", Mom said. "Great, now I feel fat.", I bemoaned.

Anywho, it was kind of amusing.

The Erie Times News was finally able to run a review of The Eight: Reindeer Monologues. It got a very nice review, but I was amused by the mention that I got:

Michael Mahler is a natural as the gay reindeer, Cupid. He characterizes Santa as a whip-loving pervert.

Hopefully, my Mom and stepfather are coming to the play tomorrow. Hope that Mom isn't too freaked out by the leather.

Opening night for The Eight: Reindeer Monologues went relatively well. It was a relatively filled house, and a lot of the cast had used their comp tickets, so we had people who were inclined to be supportive. I don't tend to get hugely nervous before a play. My only was a brief moment of blankness during my monologue. Eek! But it wasn't too long and I was able to recover. There was a short reception afterwards, which was pleasant.

So, I came home, gave the dogs a walk, and then went over to a very nice/low key cast party at the director's, who lives within walking distance.

Hoping that I don't mess up tonight! I am guessing that the reviewer will be in the audience. As I sort of expected, the leather outfit got a laugh when I came on stage.

I have been hideously overwhelmed the past few weeks with completing the newsletter, and final rehearsals for Dracula. Work has also been busy. Fortunately, things have started settling down.

The odd part for me in Dracula is being a real life Pagan who plays a character who whips out crosses and Eucharist at the drop of a hat.

So, we open on Thursday. I gather up the crucifix after a scene, and discover that Jesus' arm is broken, and if I don't hold him by the feet, He will sway back and forth, which would NOT be the mood we are going for. I gave it to Mike, the guy who handles the hardware stuff, who took it off, so I had a plain simple cross to wield a few moments later.

By the way, Mike wasn't able to repair the Jesus figure with super glue, and currently has it back stage held together with black electrical tape. When I looked at it, I thought it looked like Jesus was wearing a stole, and needed only a pill box hat and pearl earrings/necklace to complete the ensemble. Very Jackie O.

The night after that, I managed to yank the transfusion tubes out of the sleeves of 2 characters while dashing off stage. The tubes are a minor plot point, so I had to quickly tuck them back in as unobtrusively as possible while trying valiantly NOT to conjure up the image of the old Saturday Night Live of Dan Ackroyd as Julie Child accidentally hemorrhaging to death (*"And remember, save the livers')

I figured that I was done with religious object malfunctions. How wrong I was! Last night, I remembered to grab the cross as I dashed off stage and NOT dislodge the transfusion tubes. Yay for me. When I got back on, there is a scene where Van Helsing confronts Dracula after the rest of the cast has been knocked out.

Bravely, I brandished the cross (which had been a crucifix 2 nights before.) Unfortunately, the top bar of the cross chose that moment to fly off and land on stage. Small giggles from the audience, and I had to stuggle not to guffaw. I grabbed the piece and we just continued. (Although, at that point the object in my hand had chnaged to a wooden stake, effectively, so I was still covered.)

The funny thing is that originally the script called for the cross to burst into flames. I am guessing that this may very well happen at the rate that we are going, regardless of whether we arrange for any special effects.

Do you see now why Pagans should not wield Christian religous objects? The Goddess has a very puckish sense of humor.

We finished the blocking for Act 2 last night of Dracula. It went relatively well. It's sort of hard figuring out everything when we are in a different and smaller space. The younger, straight guys in the cast are nice enough. Actually, the biggest point of different is they are all in college, and I am long past that.

The night before, the director asked us for our clothing sizes, which leaves me flummoxed. I shop for clothes like a straight boy - run in, find something that seems like it fits and is cheap and run the hell out again. When he mentioned about hat size was needed as well, my inner Elaine Stritch chimed in (with her best scotch and sandpaper voice) "Does anybody STILL wear a HAT? I'll drink to that!" I think I figured it all out.

My character, Van Helsing, drags out the crucifix, Eucharist and other Christian objects to fight off Dracula like they are extermination tools or something. At one point, I am dropping Eucharist in a circle around his coffin, and the Pagan in me thinks that it's odd to only have bread, an Earth element, without have any real symbols of the other 3 Quarters. I caught myself before slipping into something like "I conjure thee, O circle of power..."

There's also a bit where Van Helsing says the 3 members of the Christian version of the Trinity (Father Son and Holy Ghost) and raps 3 times on Dracula's coffin at very end. When he mentioned the Trinity, all I could think of where the three aspects of the Goddess: Maiden, Mother and Crone. (Not sure, but I think I caught a smile from one of the other cast members. Not sure if they were also Pagan or sympathizer.) I always feel slightly off balance when interacting with Christian spirituality. I really need to feel the feminine aspects of the Divine acknowledged to feel whole. Oh well.